


Ben Hanscom Grows Up

by Aestheticdenbrough



Series: losers growing up [7]
Category: IT (1990), IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Bullying, Gen, Love Notes, Moving, New Friends, New Town, Puppy Love, Young Love, after his dad passed, childhood crush, his cousin sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-18 09:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15482649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aestheticdenbrough/pseuds/Aestheticdenbrough
Summary: Ben and his mom move to Derry, Maine.





	1. Wizard Of Oz

Sunlight streams through the window, hitting only the side of Ben's face (and likely tanning that only half). His face though, is also buried in a book. The Wizard of Oz, as he's read many times, finding comfort in knowing what is bound to happen next. Knowing what's bound to happen next brings just about anyone a sense of comfort.

He's engrossed in the story, his legs laid out in front of himself on the cushions of his book nook there in front of the window. His eyes scan the words with a desperate hunger, sucking in every word as quickly as an Olympic track star can run. His lips move with the words on the page, mumbling them to himself to make sure he doesn't miss any.

His mother comes through the door, sitting at his feet on the pale blue cushion. "We have to talk," she says softly, tucking her soft blonde waves behind her ear.

Ben looks up from the book, meeting her eyes only to find worry. He folds over the bottom corner of his page wordlessly without even looking back down at it. He sees it in his mother's eyes, she's been crying; _never a good sign._

She puts her hand on his calf firmly, trying to ground herself as much as she's trying to ground him, "It's about your father," she says, her voice cracking from the back of her throat but she continues to keep her face strong for her son. 

Now Ben's father had been gone a long time. He's overseas for the military. _Doing good in the world, as I've been told_ , Ben remembers. He looks away from his mom, uncomfortable with her gaze so much stronger than his. He doesn't like it when people have to tell him things, it always makes him anxious.

His father has been MIA (missing in action) for a few weeks now, and they'd lost hope in finding him, living or not. Ben swallows at the thought. He's never been what could be called "close" with his father. He's always looked up to him, but never has truly _known_ him.

"Yeah, mom?" He answers after what feels like years in seconds. His eyes look for a clue on her face, rather to find out himself before the words drip from her lips.

"They found him," she starts, wiping her pointer fingers under her eyes to stop the tears from making another appearance.

"Uh- they did?" Ben asks, trying not to get his hopes up since his mother's demeanor doesn't seem very promising, deep down he knows what's happened, giving his mother a look to show that she doesn't need to speak further, not wanting to hear it regardless.

Ben crawls over to his mom, clinging to her in a way that's abnormal for them to behave with each other. They love each other, so much, but don't spend much time together besides after work and school when they're both equally exhausted.

She wraps her arms around his frame and lets the tears come, a situation she should have expected. _Did_ expect, she's known her husband is missing and they aren't often found alive. The closure though, the closure is almost as painful as the unknowing- maybe, or maybe it really is just as painful.

The mourning process seems to take on slowly as the realization sets in. Ben doesn't completely let it sink in at first. He pushes it to the back of his head, it's hard to idolize a dead man, but his father has always been his male role model.

His mom misses week after week of work, the employer not being very forgiving or understanding, and she loses her job. The military payments just aren't enough, they're not keeping she and Ben afloat without her salary.

One day, Ben is sitting with his knees pulled to his chest, trying to train his eyes over the same copy or the Wizard of Oz. He has been reading- he just hasn't had the desire to finish this particular one until now.

His mom comes to him the same way she had when he'd been informed his father had been found dead. He closes the book the same way he had, not even needing his mother to prompt him for speaking, her energy carries more bad news that makes Ben's stomach sink.

"We can't afford the house," she says with a shaking voice, pushing her reading glasses up, still on her face from trying to crunch the numbers at the kitchen table. 

Ben just nods slowly, his eyes still met with hers. It's not much a surprise, they've slowly been living a slightly "abnormal" life in his eyes, at least it doesn't come as a shock. He looks around his room, messy in a way it hasn't been since he was a small child; they've really let it go.

"We're going to go live with your aunt. That'll be fun right? Her son is about your age even, you two can be live brothers," she offers him a watery smile to try and feign hope.

Ben nods slowly again, not wanting to explain that he _hates_ his cousin. Now, for Ben Hanscom, hate is a strong word, reserved only for his cousin Jimmy. The cousin who teases him endlessly and often sends him home crying, feeling worse about himself than before.

_Here's to titty twisting and wet willies_ , Ben thinks to himself as his mother stands up to walk away, likely to start anxiously packing and pacing and about any other anxious tick you could wrack your brain for.

Ben looks around his room again, eyeing the pale blue of the walls. As an infant his room was themed with clouds, leaving behind the soothing color on the walls. His bookshelf- as long as his bookshelf is coming with he doesn't assume he'll have any problems. He can easily hole himself up in his room with a dozen books and refuse to talk to anyone until college- _only eight years away from now._

They pack, and pack and pack and pack; unsure of what they'll need in their new life in Derry. Ben shoves most of his things into his suitcases, the boxes holding mostly furniture and the mundane stuff. 

The ride away from their home is hard, most of their things all in a moving truck so really if it weren't for the mood of the car it could feel like a normal trip to the grocery store. Ben watches the small house until he can't see it any more, leaving behind nothing but memories.


	2. Beverly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben adjusts to his new life in Derry, Maine.

Ben soon learns that in his move to Derry, his cousin is the least of his worries. The town has a lovely little library run by a sweet old woman that definitely likes him based on how many mints she gives him. He shares a room with his cousin but his cousin is hardly ever home, so Ben still gets the time to himself.

The one problem though, it's hard to make friends in a small town. Even worse, a kid named Henry Bowers. He's about a year older than Ben but he'd been held back so he's in Ben's class which leaves Ben constantly on edge in the one place he should feel safe.

He doesn't know how to make it better, being much too shy in being new to tell the teacher though he wishes he could. 

The problem isn't even being made fun of, it's what they say to him. They especially make fun of his slowly increasing weight. He's always eaten about the same but now that he's been left mostly friendless he hasn't been getting out and exercised as much as he used to.

Another targeted feature of his is his thick Texan accent, he doesn't sound like anyone there and kids are cruel to differences. He's taken to not talking much, keeping to himself. 

School is something he still finds solace in. Weekdays are much better than weekends, his mom works all days of the week and school helps distract him from his cousin and his slightly too open mouthed aunt with opinions that definitely don't help him.

He speeds through his essays and through his books but especially he loves math. Geometry is his favorite, figuring things with shapes is the most fun subject in what he'd call his own humble appearance.

In his spare time, now, he likes to build things with that knowledge. He'd get scraps of wood from the yard and put together things like benches and the occasional chair, never much too sturdy but at least he gets the measurements exact.

A few weeks into the school year Ben notices a ginger haired girl who sits across the room from him. She smiles only sometimes and sometimes she raises her hand and when she puts it down, her sleeve riding up enough to reveal a garden of bruised skin under the flowery fabric.

People aren't very nice to her either, he doesn't understand how they could be so cruel to her. She doesn't deserve it like he does. Finally he picks up on her name from a time she's called on. _Beverly Marsh_ , a beautiful name that he can't wait to say to himself when he's alone. The way the vowels and syllables slide off his tongue, making her feel even more beautiful.

One day, he's reading a book as he walks down the path to go home after the hours of school on a warm autumn Friday. He's not looking where he's going and he bumps right into her.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry," she says sheepishly, brushing her dark red bangs behind her ear, her green eyes wide with apology.

"Oh no, it's my fault, I wasn't looking," Ben says quickly, the words tumbling and tumbling off his tongue in his embarrassment, turning nearly as red as the bangs she'd moved to reveal more of the face be admires so much.

"I'm Beverly Marsh, and you're Ben, right?" She asks with a sweet smile, not one to enjoy an endless blame game unless it's with someone she hates, and she's winning.

"Ben Hanscom, yeah," he responds breathlessly, folding over his page and closing the book, holding it over his stomach in his insecurity.

Beverly looks down enough to notice but chooses not to say anything, knowing how it feels to want to hide something about physical appearances. She can't help but to think about the bruise on her arm that she got for not cleaning up her toys. God forbid someone asked, though she knows that many people have probably seen it. She doesn't know what hurts more, the mark itself or the fact that nobody seems to care that it's there.

"Well Ben Hanscom, I'm really very sorry for bumping into you, and I'll see you on Monday," she says with a smooth smile, tightening the bow tied in her hair, the silky red ribbon falling daintily with the lock of hair.

Ben finally releases a breath he'd been holding as she walks away, running a hand through his own hair, a messy bowl cut that his aunt upkeeps every two to three weeks, insisting that she won't have a scruffy looking young man living under her roof. He holds his tongue instead of mentioning that her own son has hair down to his shoulders.

He starts back on his walk home, whispering Beverly's name to himself over and over as he does, his crush bubbling to the surface even with such a small interaction taking place with the two of them right outside the school yard. When he was talking to her and she was so nice to him, he didn't feel so awfully terrible himself.

He finally let's his gaze rise from his sneakered feet as he nears the park, watching the young children swing and shriek with laughter. He smiles in a bittersweet manner, wishing he were one of them still.

He jumps and stumbles backwards when a familiar blond figure jumps out from behind the tree, " _Shit,_ " he hisses to himself, letting his gaze hit the ground again.

"Heyyyy, Fatboy," the boy purrs with a menacing smirk, "Ready for your daily knuckle sandwich, tits?" He says, all of his ts coming out with a splatter of spit into Ben's face.

"Uh- Henry, I'd prefer we skip today, I uh- just got a filling," he mumbles, kicking his feet anxiously in the dusty dirt. He hears the dry laugh of Henry Bowers above him. "And I'll do your math homework, just- Henry please," he begs, still feeling himself pushed against the barky tree behind him.

He shoves his notebook into Henry's hand, "Here, take it," he pleas, sighing in relief when he feels the meaty hands leaving his shoulders.

"You're off today, but that means double tomorrow, tits," Henry says with a devilish smile, stalking off in the opposite direction, down to Belch Huggins'.

Ben closes his eyes and takes another deep breath, praising any god out there for his success today, it only works about once in a blue moon.


End file.
